Empowerment facts for kids

Empowerment means having the freedom and ability to make your own choices and control your own life. It's about becoming stronger and more confident. It helps people speak up for themselves and use their own power.

This idea comes from community psychology in America. A social scientist named Julian Rappaport talked about it in 1981. But the roots of empowerment go back even further, linked to ideas about how society works.

In social work, empowerment helps people help themselves. In citizenship education, it teaches people to be more responsible citizens. Empowerment is a key idea for encouraging people to get involved in their communities. It helps us see people's strengths instead of just their problems. This idea is also used in business, education, and self-help groups.

What Does Empowerment Mean?

It's hard to find just one perfect meaning for 'empowerment'. But here's a simple way to think about it:

Empowerment is when people, groups, or communities gain control over their lives. They learn to use their power to reach their own goals. It's a process where they help themselves and others to make their lives better.

Another way to define it is: "a planned, ongoing process in a community. It involves respect, thinking deeply, caring, and group effort. Through this, people who don't have equal resources get more access to and control over those resources."

Julian Rappaport (1984) said: "Empowerment is a process. It's how people, groups, and communities gain control over their lives."

Often, empowerment helps groups who face unfair treatment. This can be due to disability, race, religion, or gender. Empowerment is also a big part of feminism, which works for equal rights for women.

How Empowerment Works

Empowerment is about helping people who are left out get basic chances in life. This can happen when they act for themselves. Or it can happen with help from others who share their opportunities. It also means stopping anyone who tries to deny these chances.

Empowerment also helps people learn skills to be self-sufficient. The goal is for them to not need charity or welfare in the future. Starting and doing this process well can be challenging.

Strategies for Empowerment

One way to empower people is to help them start their own nonprofit organization. The idea is that only the people who are left out truly know what they need most. If outsiders control the organization, it can actually make things worse.

For example, a charity run by outsiders might make a community depend on help. But a non-profit started by the community itself can make lasting changes. They can set their own goals, find resources, and take credit for their successes.

Empowerment helps people and groups use their power and influence. It's not about giving people power. People already have lots of power in their knowledge and drive. Empowerment is about letting that power out. It helps people gain skills and knowledge. This allows them to overcome problems in life or at work.

Empowering girls and women is important. But it's also true that both boys and girls need to feel equally empowered. Empowerment happens by making conditions, standards, and life better for everyone.

Challenges of Empowerment

Sometimes, experts decide that a group needs empowerment. They might say the group needs to feel stronger. But this often means experts are pointing out problems first. The power difference between experts and the people they help is not always questioned.

Also, empowerment might not work for everyone. For example, people going through a tough crisis might find it hard to make their own decisions. They might prefer to let professionals take charge. So, empowerment usually needs people to be able to communicate and think about things.

Empowerment in Social Work

Empowerment helps older people in a care home in Germany.

In social work, empowerment helps social workers build their clients' ability to help themselves. For example, clients are not seen as helpless victims. Instead, they are seen as strong people fighting unfairness. The social worker becomes a helper, not a rescuer.

People who are left out and lack self-sufficiency often depend on charity. They might lose confidence because they can't fully support themselves. Missing out on chances can also take away the pride of achievement. This can lead to problems with their feelings, social life, and even mental health. "Marginalized" means people who are excluded by society. This happens because they are seen as different or lacking certain traits.

Empowerment for Better Health

Empowerment is also used in health promotion. The main idea is for people to gain more control over things that affect their health.

To empower individuals and make health fairer, it's important to look at health habits. Studies show that health programs for teenagers should let them learn actively. They should use tools to help them think about themselves. And they should let teens help decide what activities to do.

Empowerment in Business

In business, empowerment means giving employees more freedom and resources. It means letting them make more decisions. This helps both customers and the company. It also means giving employees the power to start new things and solve problems.

Research shows that empowerment in the workplace has four main parts:

• Meaning: Employees feel their work is important.
• Competence: They feel good at their job.
• Self-determination: They feel they can make their own choices.
• Impact: They feel their work makes a difference.

Since the 1980s, empowerment has become popular in business. It involves giving employees more say and including them more. This helps them do their jobs independently and responsibly. Teams focused on empowerment work to improve the company culture. They boost employee motivation and skills.

The goal is for employees to be happy with their jobs. This happens through simpler management, taking part in decisions, and being creative. It also means having a positive team, evaluating themselves, and taking responsibility. When workers are happy and active, they can use their skills and talents better.

However, it's important that employees have the skills for their tasks. And the company must reward them for taking responsibility. Otherwise, employees might feel overwhelmed or lose interest.

Building a Culture of Trust

For employees to feel empowered, a company needs a culture of trust. It also needs good ways to share information and communicate. The goal is to save money on control. This happens when employees act on their own and are motivated.

In the book Empowerment Takes More Than a Minute, the authors share three keys for companies:

• Share information with everyone.
• Create autonomy (freedom) by setting clear rules.
• Replace old management styles with self-directed work teams.

These keys are not easy to put in place. It takes time to achieve true empowerment at work. It's important to train employees and help them trust that empowerment will benefit the company.

Empowerment and the Law

Legal empowerment happens when people or groups who are left out use the law to improve their lives. This means using laws, legal systems, and justice to change their social, political, or economic situations. Legal empowerment looks at how laws can help people who are often ignored.

According to the Open Society Foundations (a non-profit group), "Legal empowerment is about making sure all people can use their rights. This is true whether they are individuals or part of a community. It's about justice at the local level. It makes sure the law is not just in books or courtrooms. It makes sure the law is real and helpful for everyday people."

Sometimes, groups are left out by society. Governments can even be part of this problem. Equal opportunity laws are meant to fight this. They help empowerment happen. These laws made it illegal to stop people from going to schools or public places based on their race. They also show how minorities and women's empowerment groups have gained power by speaking up.

Empowering Genders

Gender empowerment usually means the empowerment of women. This is a very important topic today in discussions about development and money. It also includes helping other genders who are left out in certain political or social situations.

This idea of empowerment is partly based on feminism. It uses legal empowerment by building on international human rights. Empowerment is a key step for countries to overcome poverty and develop. The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 5) aim for gender equality and women's empowerment worldwide.

Empowerment in AI

Empowerment in artificial intelligence (AI) is a way to measure how much an AI can affect its surroundings. It's a way to model how AIs can be motivated from within. This means they choose actions that help them influence their environment. They do this without needing an outside goal.

Experiments show that AIs that try to maximize their empowerment act in helpful ways. Even without a clear goal, they explore their environment. This behavior looks like intelligent behavior in living things.

"Age of Popular Empowerment"

Marshall McLuhan believed that electronic media would make old, strict ways of organizing society weaker. He thought that new ways of getting information, thanks to information technology, would empower citizens. This would happen by sharing huge amounts of information that only experts used to have. Citizens would then demand more say in how governments, businesses, and schools are run.

Economist Nicolas Firzli has said that new ways people connect online are changing things. People are asking for more policies and decisions that focus on good for the environment and society. This is transforming how governments and companies interact with citizens. He calls this the "Age of Empowerment."

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